In 2021, Donna Lee and Duncan van Bergen founded Calyx Global, a carbon credit rating company. The startup worked to improve the quality of carbon credits sold in the voluntary carbon market. Organizations buy those credits to use in their decarbonization efforts to meet net-zero commitments.

The firm had carefully avoided perceptions of conflicts of interest. But Lee and van Bergen faced a series of dilemmas. It was a challenging time for the industry. They had to decide whether changing the business model to tap new revenue streams would jeopardize their trustworthy reputation.

In this episode, HBS Professor Mike Toffel and Duncan van Bergen join host Brian Kenny to discuss the company’s business model, its approach to ratings, and the emerging competitive landscape in the case, “Calyx Global: Rating Carbon Credits.”